Embalmer Salary

Embalmer Salary In The United States

Commonly referred to as arterial embalmers or anatomical embalmers, these are professionals who play a crucial role for the final preparations before the funerals of a person. The embalmer is the person who properly prepares the body for the burial by cleaning them, embalming them and then placing them in caskets. It is the duty of the embalmer to create incisions, place the embalming fluids inside the person’s body and then create the final sutures . The average yearly wage of an embalmer can vary from $32,000 to $48,000 or even more, if the professional has his own funeral home.

Pay Scale In Different Parts Of The United States

It is known that embalmers are paid differently across the United States of America, and these professionals earn the highest income in the state of Massachusetts, where they make a mean yearly wage of around $58,000. These professionals have the lowest median salary in the state of Alabama where they make around $39,000 a year, and they are paid better in states like Connecticut, Arkansas, Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, Minnesota or California, where they typically earn over $50,000 a year.

Embalmer Job Description

Embalmers typically need to cope with a variety of different tasks, job duties and requirements, and in addition to the formal learning they also need to get some on the job training in fields like practical embalming skills, anatomy or physiology. These professionals typically take specialist courses in how to apply airbrush cosmetics or how to restore the faces of the persons following an accident or a trauma that left them disfigured. An aspect of utmost importance for every embalmer is rising up to the laws of health and sanitation that apply in each state.

The job duties and requirements of an embalmer in the United States are many, from applying cosmetics to impart a living appearance to the dead person to making incisions in the abdominal wall in order to draw the blood and the waste matter from the internal organs. In the most severe cases that typically occur after violent deaths, it is also the duty of the embalmer to either partially or totally reshape or reconstruct the disfigured bodies with the help of dermasurgery techniques.

It is also the duty of the embalmer to properly clean and dress the bodies once he has finished embalming him, and then placing the bodies in caskets. These professionals typically need to deal with various office and administrative tasks as well, such as coordinating funeral activities. Also, the embalmer joins the lips of the deceases with needles and thread, drains all the blood from the circulatory system and replaces it with embalming fluid, maintains records of all the valuables that are being delivered with the body, inserting cotton between the eyelids and the eyeballs to prevent the sinking of the eyelids and many other similar tasks.

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Becoming an embalmer is not an easy task, and the first and most important requirement is to be able to cope with all the stress associated with this job, as seeing dead bodies on a daily basis is not something everybody can cope with. A good and skilled professional embalmer must complete an education program followed by an apprenticeship period, as only after that they can apply for a state license in order to be legally able to direct the funerals and to practice embalming.

Regarding the training, it is important for the embalmers to complete an Associate’s Degree program in Mortuary Science, where he will study subjects like restorative art, funeral home management, pathology, anatomy, physiology and other subjects related to the Mortuary Science. Grief counseling and psychology courses may be included in the training program as well.

As mentioned above, the apprenticeship period is one of the most important parts of becoming an embalmer, and the state licensing requirements include an apprenticeship program that takes place under the close supervision of either a funeral director or a skilled and licensed embalmer who has enough expertise in the field. Generally speaking, the internship or apprenticeship in this field of activity must involve embalming 50 corpses and more than 3,000 hours of employment under the supervision of an embalmer that is licensed by the state where he works.

At the end of the training session, the embalmers must sit for an exam that includes both a written and an oral examination where these professionals must demonstrate their skills in different embalming practices and techniques.

Certification

As mentioned above, embalmers and funeral directors are required to hold a licensed in all the 50 states of the United States, in order to work legally. Amongst the most important requirements for the license, the applicant must be at least 21 years of age, they must have at least two years worth of formal education and at they must have completed an apprenticeship program that lasted for at least one year.

Only after that, the applicants can sit for the final licensing exam and then join the funeral homes as trade embalmers, if they pass the exam and get their own license. Depending on the state where you live and work, you may need to maintain your license in the long haul through continuing education credits. The organization that deals with licensure is the national Funeral Directors Association, which also organizes yearly workshops and seminars.

Embalmer Salary In Canada, Australia And The United Kingdom

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an embalmer who works in the United Kingdom has an average hourly rate of 13 pounds, and these professionals get a median yearly wage that varies between 28,000 and 33,000 pounds. On the other hand, those who live and work in Canada should expect an average pay of C$41,000 a year, while Australian embalmers and funeral directors typically earn around AU$65,000.

Verdict On Embalmer Salary

While it is true that the duty of embalmer is certainly not for everybody, it can turn out to be very financially rewarding especially for those who have their own funeral home and provide their services on an independent basis.